Help! What treatment to use before moving to QT?

Hi all,

I had two young ocellaris clowns. They were fine and then one started gasping and not eating. He never went near the surface of the tank as is the common symptom of clownfish disease, but he stopped eating, was constantly swimming "at an angle" with his mouth pointed towards the surface, and eventually died. The other has started doing the same things and he wasn't gasping before (about 5 days since first one died). I never saw any other symptoms such as spots, slime coat coloration or swollen gills.

I also noticed that my hippo tang has been rubbing himself against rocks a little, but with no other symptoms. I feed them food soaked with garlic juice and he stops scratching for a few days, but then starts again.

Here are my questions:

1. Based on this information, how should I treat these fish before putting them in a QT tank (aka what should I buy when I go to the LFS for medication)? Copper? Some kind of dip? For how many minutes?

2. In the QT tank, what sg should I aim for? (the QT tank will have a heater, air stone, weak power-head and live rock).

3. Is it okay to use a mix of new cured live rock and live rock from the DT in the QT?

Thank you!

 

Actually, I would want to know more about your tank. There is a form at the beginning of the ASAP section. If you would be so kind to fill that out and post, that gives us everything we need to know but were afraid to ask. It is a little time consuming (5 minutes), but worth it to everyone involved. Thanks.

Edit: Here is the link......

http://www.3reef.com/forums/asap/asap-please-start-here-54456.html#post511150

 

PARAMETERS (important)
Temperature: 79
PH: 8.2-8.3
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Salinity: 1.025
dKH/KH/Alkalinity: 5 meq/mL
Magnesium: not sure
Calcium: 460
Phosphate: 2-3 ppm (just ordered better skimmer to hopefully help with this)
Test kits you own: PO4, NO2, NO3, NH4, pH, alk
Liquid or Strips: liquid
Brand Name: various
Are they Expired?: No


Tank size? 55
Estimated total system? 60

Reef, fish only or, freshwater? reef only

Current inhabitants? What and how many? 1 ocellaris clown, 1 baby hippo tang, 3 blue damsels, 1 algae blenny, fire shrimp
Clean up crew? 5 florida ceriths, lots and lots of dwarf ceriths, 10 blue-legs, and then the kind that bury in the sand and come up during feedings (10)

How long has your tank been set-up? 6 weeks, but the live rock has been in use for years in another tank.

Substrate.
Type? aragonite sand
Depth? 2 inches

Live rock? yes, not sure of origin
How much? guestimating about 60 pounds
Did you recently add some? nope

Filtration.
Type? proclear aquatics wet-dry 75 with bioballs removed and middle chamber modded to be a fuge with chaeto
Protein skimmer? yes, crappy one, remora on the way in transit
Drilled tank/hang on back overflow? overflow
Sump/refugium. What's in it and how much? chaeto, 5 gallons
Macro? What kind? see above

Lighting.
Lighting type? T5
Age of bulbs? 4 weeks

Feeding
What? flake, "pro-pops" freeze dried blood worm
How much? small pinch
How often? every other day (pops once a week)

Water change schedule.
How much? as needed to adjust salinity, though I plan to do a 10 gallon change once per month
How often? see above
What salt brand? instant ocean
Water source? RO/DI

Additives/supplements used? Ca and alk

Do you have a ground probe? no idea
What kind of flow does your tank have? Koralia 3 and Koralia 2

 

I am pretty sure those readings are correct because I've used the same test kits with other tanks through their cycles and the tests have been consistent with what one would expect during the cycle.

In the current tank, I checked those parameters until they fell to zero and have checked once per week since.

 

why arent you feeding the little tang veggies?

 

Some of the flakes are veggie flakes and I'm also giving him some chaeto. Does anyone have an answer to my questions about the QT tank and how to treat with copper?